2022 was a big year for the play-to-win (P2E) gaming scene. An influx of capital and users was followed by a sharp drop in blockchain gaming token prices and a decline in players, and the market is still reeling. And, with the fallout from the FTX disaster reaching every corner of the industry, the prospects for playing to win appear bleak on the surface. But looking under the hood, the numbers tell a different story: Robust funding this year has set the stage for some serious “build” in 2023.

A steady stream of hefty raises for game studios Web3 has been quietly infusing the market with funds for months. In August, UnCaged studios grossed $24 million, contributing to the nearly $750 million grossed by Web3 game studios in that month alone. The momentum continued through September, when Revolving Games raised $25 million, and October, when Odyssey Interactive, Stardust, and SkyWeaver raised $19 million, $30 million, and $40 million, respectively. Thirdverse raised $15 million for Web3 and virtual reality (VR) games in November;

These numbers directly contradict falling asset prices and player enthusiasm for the Web3 gaming space. But even as players and tokens fail, venture capitalists are betting big on the future of blockchain gaming. Which studios will win in the coming year? And because?

Instead of betting on speculation, venture capitalists are betting on experience

One item worth noting throughout the increases that have taken place in recent months is that most of the studies that have received funding are not conducting initial or pre-rounds. Rather, they have Serie A.

Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Some studies have successfully completed seed or pre-seed rounds. But even then, its founding teams have some serious gaming experience. For example, Ruckus Games, which recently raised $5.5 million in seed funding, is a game studio started by former Gearbox and Riot Games developers. This indicates that VCs are targeting studios with gaming experience, a departure from the early days of Web3 games.

During that early period, many Web3 game projects received solid funding without having a clear roadmap to launching their products or founding teams with the proven expertise to make it happen. In fact, the YOLO days of late 2021 and early 2022 are long gone. Today, studios that receive funding already have a proven level of success creating Web3 games. Venture capitalists are now thinking more ahead, even five to ten years in the future.

Related: 2023 will see the death of play-to-win games

While this time frame may seem like many lifetimes in the world of cryptocurrencies, this horizon is normal for studios in the traditional gaming sphere. The shift to longer-term thinking also shows that studios are beginning to understand that individual games have a lifespan, and that investing in the studios that build the games is a more effective approach.

How will crypto gaming change?

Looking at these increases combined with long-term trends in Web3 gaming, we begin to see that some patterns are beginning to shape the future of the industry.

So what will be the impact of all the increases in a few years?

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We can certainly expect a strong emphasis on mobile gaming. In September, DappRadar reported that hyper-casual mobile blockchain gaming brought more than 1.7 million Web2 users to Web3 gaming in a single week.

With these changes underway, it seems likely that Web3 games will enter the “mainstream” and that within the next five years, the global index of the top 100 game studios will contain studios that have strong blockchain elements.

Here’s the long game

We probably haven’t seen the last of the large-scale increases that have been happening in the Web3 gaming space in recent months. The Web3 games hype cycle has officially passed and the space is in “build” mode. And this time, investors are interested in studios that are playing the long game (pun intended).

This shift in focus, combined with significant fluctuations in the larger blockchain technology industry, will create new dynamics and opportunities for builders in the P2E market in 2023. Rising expectations from both players and funders will separate the wheat from the chaff Priorities in 2023 and beyond will focus on quality over quantity. In the end, those who can create the most outstanding games will win. So I play.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.